U.S. Courting Muslims

There has been much debate over President Obama’s journey to the Middle East last week – some stating the president has gone too far in his apologies to foreign countries and in his efforts to unite the world.

The president last week stated, “Islam is not part of the problem in combatting violent extremism — it is an important part of promoting peace.”

Mr. Obama called for a “new beginning between the United States and Muslims” and conceded at the beginning of his remarks that tension “has been fed by colonialism that denied rights and opportunities to many Muslims, and a Cold War in which Muslim-majority countries were often treated as proxies without regard to their own aspirations.”

The AP article went on to report that Mr. Obama said the same principle must apply in reverse. “Just as Muslims do not fit a crude stereotype, America is not the crude stereotype of a self-interested empire.”

The debate around such comments are being volleyed back and forth by conservatives and liberals – the real question is, will these comments by the president truly make a difference?